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Among the Shadows: 13 Stories of Darkness & Light

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Prologues and Vivisected ball gowns

I'm back! I was in Dallas for a wedding this past weekend. It was wonderful seeing a stunning bride and a happy family, and yet in the back of my mind was one little grain of irritation...

Today's blog post. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question this month is about prologues. Love them? Hate them? Kiss them or compost them? What?

How do I really feel about prologues?

Way back in April of 2010 I'd blogged about them, deciding that for my own stories, I didn't like them so much. I'd prefer to sprinkle in back story as I went along. Right? Right.

So here's something that shocked me when I got to Dallas. I swear this has to do with prologues, so stay with me. We were staying at the lovely Crescent Hotel, and this is what we saw in the foyer:

Do you see them? Those odd, hovering ballgowns? Here is the right one close up. I took some great pictures but I left them on my iPhone at work, so these are directly from the artist's website (E.V. Day)

This is the front.

And this was the back view.

Here is a close up of the red dress.

I was so tempted to scramble over to the placard that explained why these shredded ballgowns were pierced and strung up like insect shells caught in a spider web. I was fascinated and horrified. Amazed and curious.

And I thought, this is the whole issue with prologues, right here with these dresses.

1) Did I need a prologue to prepare me somehow for why these dresses were here? To tempt me about about their stories (pro-prologue)? Or was it better to just be thrust into their presence to experience the shock of seeing them, with no preparation at all (anti-prologue)?

2) OR...maybe these dresses ARE the prologue to another story yet to come. Pieced together, vivisected and objectified, yet beautiful and fragile, they give a glimpse of what's yet to be, tantalizing the viewer to read on and find out the real story of why.

The final answer to the debate, for me at least? There is no answer! It's all in the artist's mind on how best to present the story. It's not about being pro- or anti-prologue anymore.

It's about being pro-story. Write your story, and write it as well as you can.

*******

On the artwork:

Both dresses are originally from the NYC Opera's archives, fashioned with monofilament and wood into a suspended sculpture.

From E.V. Day's website, on the first sculpture:

Cinderella: Distressed Peasant/Princess

This sculpture is composed of two Cinderella dresses that symbolize her
transformation: the white, cake-like “Princess” dress with its pearls
and panniers, and a dress found on a rack of the costume archive labeled
“Distressed Peasant.” Ironically, the peasant dress is more a marvel of
handiwork and artifice—its luscious cashmere woven to look like burlap,
its hand-made lace hand-torn and rubbed with ink to look sooty, and its
silk velvet corselette punched with holes. The bloated, regal Princess
dress splits down the back, and the cicada-like, deluxe dishevelment
erupts.

On the red dress sculpture:

Mimì—Rigor Mortis (La Bohème, Puccini)

The most popular work in the operatic repertory, La bohème recounts the sad tale of the seamstress Mimì; from her rapturous love for the dashing poet Rodolfo to her tragic demise from a dreaded disease, dying in the freezing cold in the arms of her love. This exquisite example of a bustled Victorian dress in red velvet, with its laced bodice and satin ribbon, is so architecturally constructed it practically stands on its own. The figure of the unyielding dress, hovering like a headless sleep-walking zombie, seems frozen in the moment she reaches for her lover.

Personally, I like prologues that tell me something that happened outside the timeline of the main story. I don't care much for prologues that give me a glimpse of the climax. I'd rather wait for the climax.

So true. It depends on the story whether a prologue works or not. I think for aspiring authors it may be harder to get the agent's attention with a prologue just because they don't seem to like them much.

Awesome you were in Dallas. My husband's family is from there so we go there every year.

Okay, so this topic just came up for me...real world style. I took a book out by an author who was recommended to me. The story had a prologue. Three times I started reading, three times I put it down because the prologue didn't pull me in. I almost gave up. The fourth time I forced myself to wade through the prologue and finally got to the story. Then, I read the book in two days...could not put it down. Imagine that. I almost returned it to the library unread. In retrospect, I understand why the prologue was there, but initially it seriously compromised my interest in reading further.

those gowns are fascinating. I can see something like that as a prologue. I generally don't care for prologues. My WIP has a prologue though and I think it's necessary, but I'm also planning to query without it. I think my first chapter holds up without it, but I'm not sure the rest of the story does. Anyway we'll see. I'm also trying to weave the prologue info into the story so that maybe I won't need the prologue. It's hard to know what will work best.

As for prologues, I have no problem reading them. When an author takes a bit of the climax as the prologue it can either leave me intrigued as in "How in the world do things get to this point?" or it can leave me shaking my head as in "Cheap way to boost weak plot".

I love the dresses as art. Like you, I would have been dying to know why they were hanging there. When I was young I just skipped prologues, but later I realized I missed out on a lot by not reading them. I don't mind them and sometimes I'm very glad they were included.

Fascinating! I love the Cinderella transformation display. And I agree 100% with you: prologue or not, the focus should be on the story. I'm neither for nor against prologues. If one works well in a book - and the author shows some skill with writing one, instead of using it as a backstory dump - then that's cool.

As for prologues, I lean toward composting, at least in my own work. Most often the information in a prologue doesn't seem relevant since I don't know the characters yet and haven't been lured into caring. And, the information in a prologue is often not crucial to the story. If it is, why not weave it into that story? But, I also understand that each story is unique with it's own needs.

I've read numerous novels with prologues and they did not bother me. I've read a novel or two that could have benefitted from having a prologue. So, I guess I'm not against them. They don't bother me one way or another.

I love those dresses and have patterns to make them for dress balls.They are so beautiful and women look grand wearing them.In fact I even love the way they made girdles back then which had eye lets you had to pull a rope through to tighten.Women took so much care to look good back then and it made them all so special.I sometimes read prologues to see if I would be interested in the story. Sometimes they give interesting back ground info

Wow, I think seeing those dresses hanging there would have thrown me off too. It does make you think about prologues, backstory, and everything in between. Interesting. Glad you had a chance to get away. :)

I'm with a lot of the others...a prologue can be used when the action is outside of the normal timeline of the main book...or especially with mysteries...clues are sprinkled in that come into play later on. I used one in my book and feel it was absolutely necessary. :)

I'm actually a bit freaked out by those dresses - and that's just the pictures. I have no idea how I'd react if I was there.

The only prologue I can think of is Fight Club, and that works quite effectively as a teaser. You have one opinion of the scene which the subsequent novel dispels. (Is it a prologue if it hints at what's to come?)

I actually like prologues, but also feel they should be optional. The prologue should be written in a way that you can skip it and still enjoy the story. The prologue should be like an appetizer. If it's actually important to the story, then it should be called "chapter one."

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